Puppy Lesson #3 -- Purse Diving

Today, Maya would like to share the joys of purse diving with those unfortunate puppies who have not experienced the thrill and joy:

Purse diving is one of the most entertaining things you can do.  For those of you who have not mastered this great past-time, or who are unfortunate enough to have a person who doesn't have a purse, you don't know what you're missing!

Female persons are very protective of their purses, so the first thing you need to do is wait patiently until your person leaves the room where the purse is located.  The key word here is patiently.  I know you want to get to the purse, but if you show too much interest, she'll just put it somewhere where you can't reach it and then your fun is over before it even begins.

Once your person has left the room, and you're sure she won't be returning soon, walk slowly to the purse.  This is very important for puppies like me who wear more than one tag on their collars.  You do not want to make any noise at this point.  If your person's purse is open, or only closed with a magnetic button in the middle, skip to the next paragraph.  If your person's purse if closed with metal teeth, you'll need to disarm the metal teeth before proceeding.  I know this sounds scary, but it's not.  All purses with metal teeth have a built-in opener.  It's usually located at one end of the metal teeth; it may or may not have a handle.  Either way, just grab it with your teeth and pull towards the closed teeth to the opposite end of the purse.  If the opener is in the middle of the purse, you'll have to decide which direction to pull.  One direction will close the teeth, the other will open them.  It's ok if you guess wrong, just stop pulling and then pull in the opposite direction.

Now that the purse is open, it's time to go diving.  To execute a perfect dive, simply bury your face in the purse.  There are always a lot more items than you could ever play with, so I'll just point out some of the common ones: 

1. Wallets -- These are not that fun by themselves, but they're filled with other stuff that is.  Credit cards are great because it takes a lot to break them.  Checkbooks are not fun.  I don't know about paper money because my person rarely has any.  I don't think it's much fun for her to play with it either.
2. Keys -- These are fun if you like metal like I do.  And they make a lot of jingly noise.  If you don't like either of those things, just move on to something else. 
3. Lipstick -- While this looks like fun, under no circumstances should you touch it.  I repeat -- DO NOT TOUCH THE LIPSTICK!!  Lipstick must be something sacred to people because my person freaked out when I grabbed hers.  I've never seen her that upset before.  In case you don't know what it looks like, think of a pencil only really short and fat, and it opens into two pieces.  If you're not sure if something is lipstick, don't risk it.
4. Rubber bands, hair clips, etc -- Don't bother with these.  Your person drops these or leaves them lying around all the time, so don't waste precious time playing with these - they are not purse-specific items.

My person has a lot of other stuff in her purse, but I don't know if they're common or not, and I just wanted to point out some of the common stuff. 

Last tip:  Like everything else, you have to take your treasure elsewhere to play with it.  Don't get caught near the purse, and don't pull out anything you won't be immediately playing with.  My person always seems to have some kind of paper in her purse, and I always mess up and accidentally pull some of the paper out too.  That's how I always get caught.  I'm still working on only grabbing one thing at a time, but until I master that, I need to practice getting paper back into the purse.

Happy diving!

-Maya

New Year's Resolutions

Maya was not good at keeping her New Year's resolutions.  In fact, she didn't make it through the first day of the new year!  And no, she didn't know she made the resolutions, but that's neither here nor there.

"Maya's" resolutions this year were:

1. Stay off the couch -- broken
2. Stay out of my purse -- broken
3. Stop stealing socks -- broken

I guess there's always next year!

First Extended Trip

Back in November, I had my first extended trip away from Maya.  I was looking forward to the trip, but not to leaving my puppy.  I tried to prepare her as best I could, telling her all about how she'd be staying with her "auntie" and about all the fun she was going to have and how I would be back before she knew it.  And as we all know, this was for me, not for her.

I dropped her off Friday morning, and eventually said good-bye.  I left her plenty of food, her favorite toys, her bed, and her kennel.  I even left the shirt I slept in the night before, just in case if she was missing me she could go snuggle up with it.  As I was driving away, I seriously considered calling off the trip, but I had committed to running a half-marathon with a friend months ago, and I couldn't leave her stranded at the last minute.  So off I went.

I got text updates every day, and it seemed like Maya was having a good time.  She doesn't eat much when we're not at home, so I was worried about her not eating, but her "auntie" told me she was eating fine.  And I also had no idea if she was going to let everyone sleep.  She's only slept away from me once, and that was only one night when I had to board her, but this was going to be three nights, also known as an eternity.  I warned her "auntie" that she might cry, but she said not worry, that she would just take out her hearing aids and then Maya wouldn't keep her up.  After that first night, I asked her if Maya let her sleep, and she said yes.  She just put Maya in the bed with her (which I never do) and they both slept until 7 am.  I knew she was in good hands, and that she was being spoiled, but I still missed my puppy.

I made it back home the following Monday afternoon and finally got to see Maya again!!  She was super excited to see me too.  I sat and visited for a few minutes before we went home, and Maya was not enjoying that at all.  She kept nudging my arm, and then walking to the door.  She had had fun, but she was ready to go home.  During our little chat, her "auntie" told me that Maya didn't want to eat Friday after I left, not even treats.  When she hadn't eaten anything by Friday night, she stuck her food in the microwave for a few seconds, and Maya gobbled it up!  Apparently, she learned that little trick with her last dog.

For the first 5 hours or so we were home, Maya wouldn't let me out of her sight.  She thought I might have installed a secret exit in the bathroom and laundry room, so obviously I couldn't go into either room alone, just in case I happened to sneak out, and forget about going outside without her.  That night, she feel asleep curled up next to me on the couch.....with her little paw on my leg.  After the longest 4 days ever, things were finally back to normal in my little world.

Puppy of Terror

I have the bravest dog in the world, until someone or something looks at her, at which point she usually hides behind me.  I find it hilarious that when she sees someone in the parking lot or down the hall, she'll bark non-stop and pull on her leash like crazy.  But when she gets to them, she'll immediately cower in front of them or hide behind me.  Like I said, brave.

A few nights ago, we ran into another dog from the complex, a sweet lab that must be at least 10 years old.  We were walking back home when Maya spotted the lab, and she turned into a crazy puppy, barking and pulling like always.  At which point the lab ran and hid behind her mom!!  Poor dog, but I had to laugh.

I picked Maya up (the only thing that will get her to stop barking) and apologized to the lab's owner.  She explained that her dog is scared of little dog.  Apparently, her mother has a couple of little yorkies who always bully the lab around.  So now she's terrified of all little dogs, included my sweet innocent little puppy.  I felt bad for her, but I was funny to see this big dog scared of this tiny puppy. 

Ewww, Carrots!!

One day, when Maya isn't very puppy like or isn't around any more, I'm going to think back at all her antics and smile.  But in order to make that happen, I need to remember those antics.  And that's where this blog comes in.  I've been pretty back about keeping up on it, and that needs to change.  I would say that I'm going to write something cute or funny or annoying or whatever every day, but we all know that's not going to happen.  So instead, I'll just say that I'll write when I remember something cute she does.

So today -- Maya's introduction to carrots.

I never give Maya people food.  Or I almost never give Maya people food.  There are two exceptions: I use Cheerios as her treats and for training, and I give her plain rice (maybe a little plain chicken with it) if she's sick or has an upset tummy.  But that's it.

Last night, I was munching on some baby carrots and accidentally dropped half of one.  Maya was in the kitchen with me, and she immediately jumped all over it, carrying it to her favorite spot under the table.  Then she set it down and smelled it.  And then she tried to bite it.  And then she dropped it again and tried licking it.  For the next 5 minutes or so, she kept trying to figure out what to do with it.  She couldn't seem to actually bite it, and licking it wasn't doing any good.  After many attempts, she finally did manage to crack it, at which point she tasted it for the first time (I think). 

She doesn't like carrots.  After finally getting it cracked open, she set it down on the ground and walked away.  I guess I don't need to worry about dropping any carrots on the ground.  And the best part?  I grabbed the camera and actually got her reaction on video.  =)

Sweet Puppy

I've decided that I have just about the sweetest puppy ever.  And as proof, here's what happened this morning.

Since it's getting dark earlier, we've been going on our evening walks a little earlier than we used to.  So instead of potty break at 7ish, walk and final potty at 9ish, it's just walk and final potty at 8ish (or just slightly later).  But because she goes out earlier than she used to, she also wakes me up to take her out earlier in the morning. 

Since last Saturday, I've taken her out and gone back to sleep.  Usually, I walk into the bedroom and Maya follows me in; I crawl into my bed, she crawls into hers, and we're both out for about an hour.  Today, she didn't follow me into the bedroom.  I didn't really pay attention to where she went, but I assumed she went to look out the window for a while.  I crawled into bed, and just as I'm about to fall asleep, I hear this teeny tiny muffled little bark.  Now I'm awake.  I listen closely thinking maybe I was imagining it, but about 30 seconds later, I hear it again. 

I quietly got out of bed and peeked into the living room.  And that's when I saw her.  Maya was lying on the floor, head resting on her front paws, staring at her empty food bowl.  And then another teeny tiny little bark.  My poor puppy was hungry, but she didn't want to wake me up!  You could almost see her little brain thinking: "I'm hungry, but Mommy is tired and I don't want to wake her up.  But I'm hungry.  Maybe if I bark really quiet...." 

Of course I went and got her some food.  Then I crawled back into bed.  After filling her tummy, Maya came and joined me (in her bed). 

Now admit it, I have the sweetest puppy.  :)

"Play With Me!"

I've been very busy with work lately, so my poor Maya has been left to her own devices much more often than I like.  She usually does pretty well, but sometimes she just really wants some attention.  This morning was one of those times.

I was in the bathroom getting ready for work when Maya comes looking for me.  She has one of her favorite balls in her mouth, which she drops at my feet.  This is the universal sign for starting a game of fetch.  I look down and tell her I can't play, that I have to get ready for work.  She looks at me with those big brown eyes, picks up the ball, and drops it at my feet again.  I ignore her.

I hear Maya leave the bathroom, only to reappear moments later with another ball in her mouth.  Again she drops it at my feet, and again I tell her I can't play.  She leaves again and comes back with another ball.  Eventually, there are five balls at my feet, and Maya is looking up at me with those big brown eyes.  Her tail was wagging slightly, almost tentatively, and you could just see the hope in her eyes.

That's when I decide that a ponytail would be a great look for today, and for the next 20 minutes, Maya and me enjoyed a nice game of fetch.